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Eve comes through, the Ladies get thier 7th straight, a former World champion chimes in ( that be DBZ, where you been man ) and if I could only get Tuck to understand there ain't no glory in 2nd place, then the World would be perfect.

quote:Originally posted by tuck ...Either way, the main importance is to protect our standings for World and Olympic play. A couple more wins should accomplish that goal. More importantly, I have a few drinks bet on it..so GO USA!

Without putting any real deep thought into it, I think the break point for Olympic qualification will be around 12 points or so. The teams who make the final four this year will be all but guarantees, as those countries all stand a good shot at making the Worlds next year. At worst, they'd be at 9 points this start and only need three points (i.e. to beat out two teams) in next year's worlds.

And to be honest, it's hard to imagine this year's final four (be it Canada or the US) not getting at least 6 points next year.

Even if the US loses today, their 8 points will put then in terrific shape for making the Olympic field. But even just one more point may be all they need to make next year a matter of just showing up.

And if they make 2nd place, I'll dance right along side Tuck. 2nd this year is probably enough to guarantee the Olympics. ;-)

If we assume the four playoff countries are in the Olympics (not a bad assumption, especially with how consistent Korea was), then there are three slots left for non-remedial qualification. The U.S. would be primarily competing against Scotland, Denmark, Germany, and China for those. And if I understand things correctly, the U.S. is above those teams as follows:

+1 over Scotland
+2 over Germany
+3 over Denmark
+6 over China

So for the U.S. to make the field, next year's Worlds team would have to be at least within 5 points of China and better than one of any of the other three. Pretty much the only way China overtakes the U.S. is if they win next year and the U.S. fails to make the final four. (That's assuming the U.S. goes to Worlds.)

So it seems the U.S. is in really good shape heading into next year. The 2013 team won't be able to coast, but they won't be asked for a miracle either. Most likely, any kind of 6-5 or better record will get the U.S. in without much trouble, especially since it's very likely that some of this year's playoff countries will be in the playoffs next year, thereby narrowing the opportunity for other teams to beat the U.S.

In short, we can reasonably expect to see the U.S. in the Olympics without having to worry about the remedial tournament.